Can Tho

Can Tho (or
Cantho; Vietnamese: Cần Thơ) is a relatively large city in the heart of the
Mekong Delta, in Vietnam.

Understand

Can Tho has a
reputation for being a welcoming place, where everybody is smiling and
welcoming. Indeed the Vietnamese in the Mekong Delta are making good a saying
that goes:

"Cần Thơ
gạo trắng nước trong

Ai đi tới đó
lòng không muốn về"

"Cần Thơ,
white rice, clear waters,

All who come
wish never to leave."

Can Tho has a
population well in excess of 1 million and is the biggest city in the Mekong
Delta. Although developing fast (about 10% growth in 2004), it retains its
charm as the center of a rural area, as urban development is taking place in a
rather orderly manner.

Get in

By road

By road, allow
about 1.5 hours from Sóc Trăng, about 3 hours from Châu Đốc, about 3.5 hours
from Rạch Giá, less than 4 hours from Ho
Chi Minh City (85,000 dong), about 6 hours from Cà Mau
and about 1.5 hours from Long Xuyen.

It is possible
to rent a car for US$110-130 for a return trip for 2-3 passengers from Ho Chi
Minh City to Can Tho; or move by local minibus, which offer better and better
services; for about US$5-8, and departing every hour or so from the Ho Chi Minh
City western bus station (Bến Xe Miền Tây, Xa Cảng). Phuong Trang company is
offering a more confortable service providing a large coach with room for
luggages and waiting lounge in the bus station. Price is a bit lower than
"express" minibuses that are only few minutes faster indeed.

It is also
possible to rent a taxi for about almost the same price than a car for 1 way
from Ho Chi Minh City
to Can Tho. Try hiring a Vina Taxi outside of the tourist areas (District 1)
for this kind of traveling, you will be surprised about the rate differences a
trip outside of district makes.

By boat

Apart from
cruises (with night onboard) like the Bassac boats, there is no more regular
boat transportation to Can Tho. As the time necessary for a car trip from HCMC
as been reduced to less than 4 hours with the opening of the Can Tho bridge and
the motorway around HCMC, there is no reason for a speed boat service anymore.

By air

Trà Nóc
Airport is currently
being expanded and upgraded to international status, with completion for
international flights due in 2010.

As of 2010, the
airport is connected only to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, with
flights on Vietnam Airlines.

Get around

Can Tho is a
regional hub, so it is rather easy to get to and from all the surrounding
provinces.

by bus or
minibus, from the bus station, formerly located at the crossroads of Nguyen
Trai (Nguyễn Trãi) and CMT8 (Cách Mạng Tháng 8), but now relocated to 91B 3/2
(Chín mươi mốt B Ba tháng hai)

by boat, there
are rather affordable services of speedboat

by xe lôi"
car pull"

on foot (đi bộ)

See

The Khmer pagoda
of Munirangsyaram, on Hoà Bình
street, where you will always be welcome.

Local markets

The main market
of Can Tho used to be an open market located on Ninh Kiều pier. Today, the only
original building left is the beautiful old market hall, now surrounded with a
garden along the river.

New markets on
Cái Khế peninsula and further upstream the Can Tho river have been built to
host the increasing activity.

Floating markets

The floating
markets are a very lively scene, accommodating much of the goods exchange
throughout the area, and can be quite freely visited on board smaller boats for
about US$3/hour per boat. You may take a tour from the Ninh Kiều pier, in front
of Nam Bộ restaurant, where the "boat ladies" are charmingly eager to
welcome you aboard.

Cai Rang (Cái
Răng) floating market is the main wholesale floating market near Can Tho. Go
there early (as early as 06:00), and come back through the small tributaries to
Can Tho river; about 3-4 hours. The Mystic sampans offer higher-end breakfast
cruises to Cai Rang floating market.

Phong Dien
(Phong Điền) is further upstream the Can Tho river, and worth seeing as it is a
retail market. It is very active at dawn, but slows down early too, so you may
want to go there by land. The arroyos back to Can Tho are also very much worth
a ride on a small boat.

Phung Hiep
(Phụng Hiệp) is much farther away, in the neighboring Hậu Giang province, but
deserves a trip if you are going to stay more than a few days, as it is always
bustling with activity.

Tra On (Trà Ôn),
in Vinh Long province, is just over an hour downstream the Bassac (the lower Mekong branch, also called Hậu Giang or Sông Hậu). It is
a small floating village's market anchored near the clouds' island (Cù Lao
Mây).

Canals

The canal system
around Can Tho is a fascinating travel network, much more relaxed than the
bustling roads. Hire a small row boat (probably with a small diesel motor as
well) that can take you through the small canals that the larger tour boats
can't navigate. Tours
from 6am to 2pm, including two floating markets and various sites along the
canals, can be found for under 250,000 dong per person.

Do

The Bassac wooden
cruisers run regular overnight trips between Can Tho and Cái Bè, and provide high-end
services including non-stop air-con and all meals cooked on board.

Mekong Eyes
cruise [2] The Mekong Eyes combines regional boat-building traditions with
modern comforts to become the perfect holiday vessel to cruise the Mekong in style. Cruising CaiBe- Can Tho 100km, 9 hours

Buy

There are many
supermarkets in Can Tho such as : Coopmart (Hoa Binh Street), Metro Hung Loi
(91B)[you need a special registration card to shop here], Citymark, Maximark, Vinatex Plaza...

Can Tho main
market at Cái Khế is a very typical and colorful place to buy authentic
Vietnamese goods.

Eat

Can Tho is
famous for delicate cuisine and extra-fresh fruit and vegetables, and a good
place to try and eat the fruit you would not usually like: you may well find
they are very tasty and enjoyable.

Among the local
produce, you may like to try mangoes, oranges, jackfruit, pomeloes, grapefruit,
but also custard apple, corossol, longans or even durian.

Phở Cali, Trần Văn Kéo Street
(close to the central market in front of the Exhibition Centre and the Citimart
supermarket).

Nam Bo (Nam Bộ). Seated in an old
French-era building of the Comptoirs d'Indochine, and serves very tasty
Vietnamese as well as some Western cuisine such as pizza and spaghetti. The
service is nice and efficient, and a surprising variety of languages is spoken
there, from English to French to Dutch and even some Japanese.edit

Sao Hom (Sao
Hôm). Located in the central market's hall, facing the Can Tho river, and
serves a large palette of Vietnamese cuisine, as well as some western food,
too. The ambiance at night is unique.edit

Phở Cali, Trần Văn Kéo Street
(close to the central market in front of the Exhibition Centre and the Citimart
supermarket).

Café Năm Sao
(3/2 street, after the crossing with 91B national road) and Café Thủy Mộc (3/2
street, in front of the Foreign
Languages Center
at the Campus 2 of Can Tho univerisity) offer quiet places in a green and
nature atmosphere. Lot of drinks and meals
available at good prices for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The first is
recommended if you want to relax and the second one if you want to have a good
quality meal.

In Cái Khế ward:

Phở Cali, Trần Văn Kéo Street
(close to the central market in front of the Exhibition Centre and the Citimart
supermarket). offers good vietnamese and western meals in clean and air
conditionned places for reasonnable prices.

There is a brand
new Shopping Mall in the Exhibition Centre area called Champs Elysées - La
petite France. It features a good french and vietnamese style bakery and a nice
bar. Try it...

Some restaurants
more aimed at serving vietnamese guests but that can offers a more exotic and
delightful experience to foreigners have recently appeared. The Sông Hậu on the
3rd February street close to the University (Đường 3/2) or the Alô 100 on CMT8
road not far from the ferry (Đường Cách Mạng Tháng 8) provide a nice
environment, varied meals and affordable prices for a service that is still
improving.

Dat Phuong Nam
(Black Beer Restaurant in Can Tho - Address : 132/11 Ba Thang Hai Str , Can Tho
City ) is a first Germany Beer Restaurant in Can Tho - Very Good but more aimed
at serving vietnamese guests since located in a small lane of a remote area.

Goat Specialties
(Lẩu Dê Thanh Thuý) is a little aside of the city, and run by a French person
who settled in Can Tho who offers a variety of dishes revolving around savory
goat meet.

There are also a
variety of other restaurants, the quality and service of which spans the whole
range from poor to great.

Dog meat (Thịt
cầy Trần Văn Hoài), ngon hết biết !!!

Duck soup (Vịt
nấu chao Hẻm 1), ngon hết sảy !!!

Drink

Vietnamese
people typically enjoy a coffee (strong, with lots of condensed milk and ice),
fresh coconut juice, and fruit drinks (lemonade, orange juice, etc.) in one of
the many small stalls along the streets or in the markets.

If you want to
spend a few hours like a Vietnamese, the best places are located on the river,
with the most famous ones near Ninh Kiều pier. Just in front of the three-star
Ninh Kiều hotel is a popular and affordable place, which is sometime crowded,
especially when students get out of school for the day.

A bit more
difficult to reach, but very authentic, is the Bãi Cát pier (former beach on
the Mekong) a great spot to watch the boats
cruising on the main river.

A nice family
owned and operated cafe, known as "Cafe Buu Dien" (Post Office Cafe)
serves the best coffees and has an interesting atmosphere. The servers holler
your orders to the back, and in a couple of minutes you get fresh coffee in a
warm mug. Its extremely fast paced, but at the same time very relaxing. They
have locations throughout Can Tho, but hop on any xich lo or taxi and just tell
them to take you to a "Cafe Buu Dien" and they'll know where to go.
My favorite location is the one in Cai Khe ward, known as "Cafe Bich
Phuong".

The nightlife in
Can Tho is not as vibrant as Ho Chi
Minh City but it is not as "bottle service"
centric as HCMC either. Can Tho clubs usually hire famouse Vietnamese singers
to perform live in their venues and feature go go dancers on regular night.
Drink price is usually 50,000 VND for a bottle of beer, around 1m for a bottle
of cheap vodka and more for expensive cognac/whiskey such as Hennessy VSOP/XO.

Xe Loi Club, Hau
Riverside Park, Bai Cat Zone, Cai Khe Ward, Ninh Kieu District. The place to be
on weekend, spacious club, good lighting/sound system with laser to boost. Open
until 3 AM with the most fun happening from 11PM till 2 AM. Mixed youthful and
energetic but can be quite sketchy crowd.

Golf Club, Golf
Hotel near Ninh Kieu pier and the Central Bank. Quite upscale club with many
business men preferring this place to chill out on the weekend.

Bars

Cafe Bar Eden,
Le Loi St. Good for couples

Cafe Billard At
Chuan, Le Loi St
(Lê Lợi). Invovled MC and DJ.

Cafe Bar Black
And White, Le Loi St.
Same as Eden.

Wild Horse, Le
Loi St. Classicism and Impressionism decor with good selection of wine. Closed
as of October 2010

Sleep

There is a wide
range of services, from the very local KS Tây Hồ (on Ninh Kiều pier, a good
choice for US$12-15), to the state-owned (and state-like) International Hotel,
US$25-35, to the recent and more elaborate Ninh Kiều 2 Hotel, on Hòa Bình
street, owned by a military company.

Kim Thơ. hotel
offers a 3 star accommodation close to the Ninh Kiêu peer which is the town
center where are most of the restaurants, bars and tourstic places of interest.
It is clean, cosy, recent and located in a quiet street (Ngô Gia Tự) not far
from the speed boat peer.

Spring Hotel, 22
Khu Dan Cu So9 Duong 30/4, ☎ 0710 3839723. Have to recommend this *very* clean
and friendly place. Rooms maintained and bed sheet changed daily during stay.
Enjoy meals any time you want at the nice sitting area by the big windows on
each floor.Try their coffee once you are there! The "only" downside
is distant from the river (40mins by feet) but free bikes to ride around as
well as motorbike rental. Staff are genuine nice! Thumbs up! USD$10.

A different way
is to try bed and breakfast accommodation in the Can Tho surroundings. Hanh and
Yannick from Nature-Mekong offers accommodation services and their house is
located close to the famous Cái Răng floating market.

Splurge

Victoria Can
Tho, ☎
71.810111 (fax: 71.829259), [4]. Luxury resort on Cái Khế island, including a
swimming pool, a spa, a ballroom, and a rice barge for a scenic breakfast,
lunch or dinner. Rooms from US$108, river view suites from US$175.

Get out

From Can Tho you
can easily reach other peaceful cities of the Mekong Delta such as Sóc Trăng,
Châu Đốc, Sa Đéc Rạch Giá and Cà Mau. If you are heading to the north from the
main bus station be careful about what ticket you buy. If you are going with a
mini bus and your destination is not directly on the route to Ho Chi Min City
they might just drop you off somewhere. You will have to buy another ticket and
end up paying way to much.

Vacation Deals Vietnam is one of the first
and leading online Tour Operators in Vietnam who specializes in Vietnam
and Indochina Travel Packages, cruises in Vietnam and Mekong Delta, hotel and
resort reservations, car rental, ticket bookings... etc..., Serving many
different consumer segments from Individuals to groups' bookings with
prompt reply and reasonable costs. We are always willing to help all
travelers to Vietnam.
You can get our valuable guides about accommodations, visa granting, transportation
in Vietnam,
etc just by sending a email for us – booktouronline@gmail.com. We will
mail back around 12 hours

Vacation Deals Vietnam is one of the first and leading online Tour Operators in Vietnam who specializes in Vietnam and Indochina Travel Packages, cruises in Vietnam and Mekong Delta, hotel and resort reservations, car rental, ticket bookings... etc..., Serving many different consumer segments from Individuals to groups' bookings with prompt reply and reasonable costs. We are always willing to help all travelers to Vietnam. You can get our valuable guides about accommodations, visa granting, transportation in Vietnam, etc just by sending a email for us – booktouronline@gmail.com. We will mail back around 12 hours.